Bus driver shortages pushes DCSD to do rolling cancellations

BY MCKENNA HARFORD MHARFORD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

With more than 100 bus driver positions left un lled ahead of the school year, the Douglas County School District is moving to rolling cancellations for all bus routes.

Last year, Superintendent Erin Kane called transportation a “pain point” in the district because a lack of sta ng led to frequent day-of cancellations. Going into the 202324 school year, sta ng is down even more than last year.

In an e ort to avoid short-notice cancellations this year, the district surveyed parents and families on various short-term solutions until more sta can be hired.

Paula Hans, spokesperson for the district, said the district understands having rolling cancellations is hard for families and continues to look for solutions. e rolling cancellations will impact all general education routes.

“Of course, we recognize that none of the options were ideal, and we are committed to continuing our driver and assistant recruiting e orts over the course of this year,” Hans said in an email.

Hans said the district’s transportation team will email families in advance to notify them of which routes will be canceled. roughout the school year, each route will run for four weeks and then be o for one week.

Transportation sta ng is down 104 bus drivers and 32 transportation education assistants, who are responsible for monitoring special education students with moderate to severe needs and challenging or emotional di culties on school buses.

Hans said that even with rolling cancellations, some routes may still experience day-of cancellations.

“In the case where drivers or assistants are out, we will rst do our best to cover any vacant routes with internal sta prior to moving forward with a cancellation,” she said.

Arapahoe County

Already, the district has consolidated 30% of its bus routes, increased the outsourcing of special education routes to third-party transportation providers and reduced daytime eld trips to keep sta available.

Hans added that families who paid for an annual bus pass will receive a partial refund to o set the cancellations.

Compared to surrounding districts, Douglas County’s transportation pay is one of the lowest in the metro area. Douglas County starts bus drivers with commercial driver’s licenses at $22.86 per hour and transportation assistants start at $17.62 per hour.

e Cherry Creek School District starts bus drivers at $23.18 per hour and assistants start at $17.74 per hour.

Lauren Snell, a spokesperson for Cherry Creek schools, said the district is working to ll 30 open bus driver positions and isn’t facing the same transportation challenges as Douglas County.

However, Snell said hiring transportation sta isn’t particularly challenging.

“Right now, people want to come work for Cherry Creek,” she said.

Snell said no routes will be canceled this year and cancellations weren’t an issue last year either.

In an email to families, Kane said it’s hard for Douglas County to o er competitive pay because of limited district funding. Currently, the district is o ering paid training and $1,000 sign-on bonuses for select positions to try entice employees.

“While this is a challenge a ecting school districts across the country, our funding situation makes the challenge more acute for our district,” she said.

The school board will be voting on whether to put a $66 million mill levy override and $484 million bond on the 2023 ballot to pay more competitive salaries for staff and build new schools at the Aug. 8 meeting.

Arapahoe County encourages everyone to join in this observance and to recognize the important roles that parents, employers and community members play in ensuring that all children have the financial support they need to thrive. Learn more at arapahoegov.com/humanservices.

Time to hit the trails!

Lace up your sneaks for a timed 5K trail run presented by Les Schwab Tires, beginning at Tagawa Gardens and running along the Cherry Creek Regional Trail. Funds support trail maintenance and Arapahoe County Open Spaces. Includes dinner, craft beer or sports drink, and live music at the finish line. Walkers and all ages welcome!

Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023 | 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Get details: arapahoecountyeventcenter.com

SAVE THE DATE

Justice System

Racial Equity Event

Help e blooms become harmful when the cyanobacteria produce toxins, the state health department said. e state health department’s threshold for water recreational closure is 8 micrograms per liter of microcystin and above, which is considered a “red level,” according to the news release. e samples at Cherry Creek State Park showed concentrations of 10 micrograms per liter.

Environmental Protection Agency. It is a type of cyanobacteria, which is also referred to as blue-green algae. ese organisms naturally occur in Colorado but can become problematic when they multiply rapidly, resulting in a dense concentration of cyanobacteria, also referred to as a “bloom,” according to the state health department.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said water samples will continue to be collected and tested, and the closures will remain in place until the level of microcystin decreases.

Updates on the recreational closure will be shared online at cpw. state.co.us/placestogo/parks/CherryCreek.

No RSVP necessary. Childcare will be provided.

Wednesday, Sept. 27 6:30–8:30 p.m.

Second Chance Center 224 Potomac St., Aurora arapahoegov.com

EVEN WITH A HOUSING VOUCHER, METRO MAN FACES ENDLESS BARRIERS TO FIND DISABLED GRANDSON A HOME

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

George Vonesh drives an hour round trip each day to visit his grandson, Justin.

Justin is a kind, caring, nonjudgmental young man, says his grandfather. He keeps up on the news and likes to discuss current events. In his free time, Justin enjoys music, concerts and paranormal television shows.

He also lives with intellectual disabilities, which have impacted him since childhood. Yet, at 32 years old, Justin lives on his own in an apartment in Lafayette.

As Justin’s primary companion and caregiver, Vonesh has spent much of his life memorizing the ins and outs of programs and services that many adults with disabilities rely on — from Medicaid to food assistance programs, to housing choice vouchers and more.

“It’s taken me years to learn all this stu ,” Vonesh said.

At age 79, he is starting to worry about how he can sustainably support his grandson. e distance from Arvada — where Vonesh lives — to Lafayette is feeling more and more challenging to travel as the years go by.

He wants to move Justin closer, but for months he’s faced hurdle after hurdle. Despite all his research, paperwork, phone calls, meetings and more paperwork, Vonesh hasn’t been able to nd an apartment that will work.

e problem comes down to what’s commonly called a housing choice voucher.

Justin received a voucher in 2018, about a year and a half after applying for the rent subsidization program. He was luckier than many, as some people wait on lists for years — sometimes more than a decade — before being selected for the program that’s part of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.

e program, sometimes known as Section 8, aims “to help very low-income families, the elderly and the disabled a ord decent, safe and sanitary housing,” according to HUD.

Justin is both low-income and disabled in the eyes of the government. His income was about $800 per month — less than 7% of the area median income in his county — when he applied for a voucher. is money came from a monthly stipend for people with disabilities, called Supplemental Security Income.

Since then, however, Vonesh has learned that a voucher is not a guaranteed ticket to housing.

“It’s not easy,” he said, gesturing at a pile of paperwork full of handwritten notes and math problems. “Even now, with all this homework that I have, I still am never quite sure about all the exact steps.” rough his deep dive into the program and its many intricacies, Vonesh has uncovered a system with pitfalls at every turn. Sometimes, these challenges come from administrative complexities of the program. Other times, they are rooted in discrimination.

As Vonesh has worked tirelessly to nd a home for his grandson, housing advocates have taken steps to strengthen laws meant to protect people like Justin.

A new law on this front, which goes into e ect this month, has resulted in resistance from Colorado landlords. While they concede that people with housing vouchers can struggle to nd a place, they say the problem should be addressed by making the program more economically attractive — not mandating how landlords interact with it.

Moving Justin closer Vonesh has been living in the same Arvada home for over 50 years. Since his wife passed away a few years ago, he divides his time between taking care of his dog, Jasper, and his grandson.

“Jasper in the morning, Justin in the afternoon,” he said.

Justin’s disabilities, which impact his social interactions, have made it challenging for him to make friends over the years. Vonesh said that causes Justin to be sad sometimes, making the daily visits even more important.

“If I don’t go up there, he’s just by himself,” he said.

As Vonesh gets older, the long drive is becoming more challenging.

“It’s hard on me,” he said. “I’m getting old and that tra c is dangerous … so I’d like to get him closer. Otherwise, I’m telling him, we’re just gonna have to gure out some days a week that I take o .”

But Vonesh has had little luck since he began searching for a closer apartment eight months ago. Because Justin has a voucher, moving is a complicated process that involves a staggering number of considerations.

First, prospective apartments need to qualify under a payment standard set by HUD. at means the unit, plus utilities, has to be at or under a speci c price.

Once Vonesh nds an apartment at the correct rate in a desired area, there has to be a vacancy that lines up with the end of Justin’s current lease. He also has to add time for a federally mandated inspection of the unit.

If the new apartment is in a di erent county, Vonesh would need to transfer Justin’s rental subsidy across housing authority lines. e process is possible, but it adds extra steps that take time. In a fast-paced rental market where landlords want tenants con rmed as quickly as possible, the timeline of these extra steps can complicate options.

Add those requirements to the personal desires any person may have for an apartment — like in-unit laundry or a place to sit outside — and Vonesh has a puzzle on his hands.

It is a puzzle that gets more challenging when some landlords, Vonesh says, won’t even take a glance at Justin’s application.

“I have lost count of the